VR Headset Harness with Resistance Bands for Contact Sport Training
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Solution Overview
Problem
Contact sports, such as American football, face challenges in providing realistic interaction and minimizing physical contact injuries like concussions and joint damage, particularly in youth players who are more susceptible due to underdeveloped brain protection and anatomy.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus comprising an upper body harness, resistance bands, location sensors, and a virtual reality headset, which simulates physical contact resistance and provides training and competition scenarios without actual collisions, using augmented, mixed, or virtual reality to enhance skill development and injury prevention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If actual physical contact and collisions are used in contact sport training, then realistic interaction and skill development are improved, but the risk of concussions, joint damage, and traumatic head injuries increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces virtual reality headsets and haptic feedback devices as intermediary tools between the athlete and training scenarios. These devices create a simulated contact experience through digital avatars and force feedback without requiring actual physical contact, thereby maintaining training realism while eliminating injury risk from collisions and impacts
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates virtual copies of opponents, opponents' movements, and contact scenarios through augmented reality and virtual reality technology. These digital copies replicate the visual, spatial, and haptic aspects of real contact sport interactions, allowing athletes to practice and develop skills against realistic simulations without exposure to actual physical harm
2Productivity
If youth players engage in contact sport training with actual physical contact, then athletic skills are developed, but the susceptibility to concussions and head injuries increases due to underdeveloped brain protection
Solution Approach 1:
For youth players, the patent employs virtual reality and augmented reality systems that mediate all physical interactions. The technology creates a contact-free training environment where young athletes can develop athletic skills, footwork, and tactical understanding through simulated opponents and scenarios, eliminating concussion risk while preserving skill acquisition
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the physical parameters of training by replacing actual mass, velocity, and impact force with virtual representations and haptic feedback. This parameter transformation allows youth players to experience training scenarios with controlled or zero impact forces while maintaining the cognitive and motor skill development benefits of contact sport practice
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively reduces the risk of injuries while improving athletic skills and muscle memory, offering detailed analytics and entertainment options, and can be used in various settings, allowing for customizable training and competition experiences.
Implementation Method 1
at least one resistance band, cord, or cable having a proximal end which is connected or linked to the upper body harness or vest and a distal end which is connected or linked to one or more of the hand or wrist retainers
Implementation Method 2
one or more location or position sensors which sense, and transmit information pertaining to, a location or position of the upper body harness or vest, a left hand or left wrist of the individual, a right hand or right wrist of the individual, a left foot or left ankle of the individual, and/or a right foot or right ankle of the individual
Data Source
AI summary
An augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, and/or metaverse teaching, training, and analytical system for contact sports, such as American football, which (a) provides realistic interaction and physical engagement resistance with virtual opponents and objects in simulated game and practice settings, or with a virtual image of an actual opponent, but (b) eliminates the types of accidental or over-aggressive impacts and collisions which can cause ligament and joint damage, or produce concussions or other traumatic head injuries which can lead to conditions such as CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), dementia, and Alzheimer's.